Indian applicants contesting a Polish visa refusal have only a narrow three-day window—29 to 31 December 2025—to lodge reconsideration requests, and must do so directly at the Consular Section of the Polish Embassy in New Delhi between 14:00 and 15:00. VFS Global centres will not accept appeals during this period, the mission announced on its website.
The notice, issued just after Christmas, caught many Erasmus-bound students and IT service engineers by surprise, as year-end holiday closures already limit courier and notary services required for appeal bundles. Mobility consultancies are urging affected travellers to assemble fresh documentation—updated invitation letters, insurance proof and bank statements—before the Consulate reverts to normal operations on 2 January.
Under Polish law, a request for reconsideration must be submitted within 14 days of receiving a refusal. Missing the deadline forces applicants to file a lengthier, costlier appeal with the Head of the Office for Foreigners in Warsaw. The Embassy’s directive therefore compresses timelines for Indians whose passports were stamped ‘refused’ after 15 December.
![Polish Embassy in New Delhi restricts visa-appeal filings to in-person submissions, 29-31 Dec]()
For travellers who need help gathering last-minute paperwork or navigating shifting embassy rules, VisaHQ can step in with document pre-screening, courier coordination and real-time slot monitoring. Their India team has experience with Polish and other Schengen missions, streamlining tight appeal scenarios like this one. Learn more at https://www.visahq.com/india/.
Practical implications: companies deploying staff to Katowice’s IT parks or Łódź manufacturing sites should monitor refusal rates—currently running at 9 % for Indian nationals, according to EU Visa Code statistics—and budget extra time for possible appeals. Travellers with urgent January start dates may need to pivot to remote onboarding or short-term Schengen alternatives via other member states.
The episode underscores the importance of checking embassy holiday schedules across Europe, where many missions operate reduced counters in late December, potentially jeopardising mobility commitments.
The notice, issued just after Christmas, caught many Erasmus-bound students and IT service engineers by surprise, as year-end holiday closures already limit courier and notary services required for appeal bundles. Mobility consultancies are urging affected travellers to assemble fresh documentation—updated invitation letters, insurance proof and bank statements—before the Consulate reverts to normal operations on 2 January.
Under Polish law, a request for reconsideration must be submitted within 14 days of receiving a refusal. Missing the deadline forces applicants to file a lengthier, costlier appeal with the Head of the Office for Foreigners in Warsaw. The Embassy’s directive therefore compresses timelines for Indians whose passports were stamped ‘refused’ after 15 December.
For travellers who need help gathering last-minute paperwork or navigating shifting embassy rules, VisaHQ can step in with document pre-screening, courier coordination and real-time slot monitoring. Their India team has experience with Polish and other Schengen missions, streamlining tight appeal scenarios like this one. Learn more at https://www.visahq.com/india/.
Practical implications: companies deploying staff to Katowice’s IT parks or Łódź manufacturing sites should monitor refusal rates—currently running at 9 % for Indian nationals, according to EU Visa Code statistics—and budget extra time for possible appeals. Travellers with urgent January start dates may need to pivot to remote onboarding or short-term Schengen alternatives via other member states.
The episode underscores the importance of checking embassy holiday schedules across Europe, where many missions operate reduced counters in late December, potentially jeopardising mobility commitments.
